


in time, all will be okay

by glendower



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Happy Ending, Healing, Light Angst, M/M, also kevin and renee are mentioned a few times, but it only shows up like once in this entire thing, i gave alvarez a first name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 18:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11583930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glendower/pseuds/glendower
Summary: It takes one month after he leaves Castle Evermore for Jean Moreau to arrive in South California and eight more for him to acknowledge it as home.(or, jean takes a while to heal but jeremy and the trojans are there for him)





	in time, all will be okay

**Author's Note:**

> its 1AM, i'm sleep deprived and emotional about jean moreau
> 
> (this is unbeta'd please be nice to me)

Two weeks free. Jean Moreau is a mess. Renee Walker brings him to Coach Wymack first as she still does not know of a safe place for him to recover. The Foxes try their hardest to leave him be but sometimes the sight of Kevin Day makes him panic because _they’re not with the Ravens_ and Riko will hunt them down because _nobody_ leaves the Ravens alive. He can already imagine a sharp knife and a sharper smile as Riko breaks and tortures him for even dreaming about being free.

  
Four weeks free. Jean flies to South California with Renee at his side. Kevin tells her about the Ravens’ inability to go anywhere alone so she decides to accompany him. _Airplane rides are kind of lonely anyway_ , she says.

He meets Jeremy Knox that day.

If Renee is something akin to a star (quiet and humble but with a fierce fire of her own) then Jeremy is the sun. He is loud with his greetings, bright with his smile and warm in how he tries to make Jean feel comfortable. He is nothing like Riko and that is enough for him.

“You’ll be safe with the Trojans,” Renee says almost solemnly, “You can be happy with them.”

Jean does not know of emotions such as love or happiness (or rather, _he’s forgotten_ ) so he chooses to trust Renee and nods. He follows after Jeremy, luggage in hand, as the older man talks about exy and his friends. Jean stays silent but listens.

  
Two months free. Jean has met Laila Dermott and her girlfriend Maria Alvarez and the other two dozen or so Trojans. They are a lively bunch and they are a team, but also their own individual people unlike the Ravens. They do not comment on the scars littering his body either which Jean is thankful for.

Jeremy is in their shared dorm when he asks, “What do you think of the team?”

“They’re... odd,” Jean answers. He does not mean it as an insult and pauses. “But I think I can learn to like them.”

Jeremy smiles.

  
Three months free. Jean is still unused to living in South California but Jeremy is patient and Renee calls every three days and texts even more frequently. Jeremy asks if he will join the Trojans for dinner and says a quiet goodbye when he refuses. Jean walks to the stadium for a late night exy practice and when he returns at midnight, there is a box of Chinese takeout sitting on the table for him.

  
Four months free. Jean’s nightmares never stop ( _perhaps they never will_ , he thinks) and he wakes up from one so vividly he can still taste the metallic tang of his own blood and hear Riko’s dangerous chuckle.

Jeremy is by his side at once. He won’t touch Jean without his permission so he sits, rambling about how the sophomores raced with shopping carts in the grocery store two nights ago in an effort to distract him from his night terrors. He does not stop talking until Jean can breathe properly again and once he does, he turns and asks, “Can I?”

Jean nods so Jeremy gingerly cups his face and looks at him in the eye.

“Riko’s gone,” he says, “He can’t touch you anymore. But... I’m still here. And everything will turn out okay. _You’ll_ be okay. I promise.”

Jean chooses to believe him.

  
Six months free. Jeremy learns that Jean has not seen the ocean since he was ten years old (happy and free and still residing in Marseille with his parents and grandmother) so he organizes a team outing to the beach. Jeremy tries to teach him how to surf which ends up rather terribly and the freshmen try not to laugh when he plops on the beach with seaweed stuck to his hair. He sprawls out on the sand and naps not unlike a cat would, enjoying the sunlight on his skin and Jeremy’s voice as he recalls a time when his younger sister shoved a crab down his shorts. Jean snickers at that.

(He burns so badly he turns as red as the crimson on their jerseys. Laila and Alvarez barely hold their snickers when Jeremy applies burn cream from his waist up and lectures him on the importance of sunscreen.)

  
Nine months free. Jean lets a striker past him during a match and is surprised when all he thinks is _‘I’ll do better next time’_.

  
Ten months free. Jean opens the door to their dorm and sets down a bag of groceries on the dining table. “I’m home,” he calls out and Jeremy, reading by the window, grins.

“Home,” he says and when Jean blinks, he continues, “You called it home.”

“What else would it be?”

  
One year free. The Trojans defeat the Foxes in the semi finals. Kevin does not talk to him and he does not talk to Kevin but it is okay. The congratulatory handshake Jean receives from him reminds them both that maybe one day, they can learn to trust each other again.

They face the Ravens in the finals and Jean isn’t as afraid as he thought he would be. It is a given that Castle Evermore holds bad memories but Jeremy’s fingers brush against his side and Jean feels somewhat at ease when they call his name. The Ravens sneer but Laila is a comforting presence in the goal behind him and Alvarez is hurling her own insults. The look in Jeremy’s eyes is almost dangerous as the game begins and he body checks the Raven captain.

It is one of the most brutal games Jean has played in his life. A freshman striker breaks their arm and an offensive dealer is benched with three fractured fingers and a sprained ankle. It does not compare to Jeremy’s injuries when the Raven captain tackles and proceeds to beat him, however. Jean is across the court in an instant.

“You _piece of shit!_ ” he snarls and throws the man off of Jeremy. The Raven captain has a broken nose and black eye when he is given a red card and escorted off the court. Jeremy is driven to the hospital.

The USC Trojans win the game but it does not seem right to celebrate without their captain.

  
One year and one week free. Jean sits by the bed in Jeremy’s hospital room. They do not say anything for a moment but Jeremy speaks up soon enough.

“I never thanked you,” he remarks.

“I wouldn’t have let him hurt you,” Jean says matter of factly. His voice is quiet when he speaks again. “Besides, _I’m_ the one that has to thank you.”

“For what?”

“For everything.”

  
One year and two weeks free. Jeremy is discharged from the hospital and the team finally celebrates their win against the Ravens. Laila and Alvarez host the party in their dorm and the music is drowned out by everyone’s laughter as a sophomore goalie and backliner raid the fridge and drunkenly stack broccoli heads on top of each other. Jean does not say much until Jeremy slides up to him with drinks in hand.

Maybe it is the alcohol or the contagiously good mood but when half the team is passed out and it is well past midnight, Jeremy asks, “Can I?”

Jean is well aware of what he means and nods.

(Jeremy’s lips are soft against his own and when Alvarez and Laila holler, he laces their fingers together and smiles.)

  
Two years free. Laila is the new captain of the USC Trojans exy team and Jean is appointed as vice captain. He looks forward to training the rookies and does not fear being the captain’s right hand man like he used to. Renee now calls once a week instead of every three days but still texts as frequently. Kevin makes small talk and cracks jokes before and after games between the Foxes and the Trojans. Jeremy texts and calls him every day and visits whenever he can. Laila and Alvarez chastise him for always distracting Jean.

“You might have graduated but we’re still Trojans, Knox,” Alvarez scolds him when he visits for the fourth time in the same week, “And we’re planning on kicking the Foxes’ asses in the finals.”

“Yeah, but,” Jeremy childishly whines and turns to his boyfriend for help, “Jean misses me. Right, babe?”

“Kevin Day is going to hand me that trophy and weep,” is all he says in reply.

  
Five years free. Laila and Alvarez get married on the beach and Jeremy cries. They ask them to be their child’s godparents months later and Jeremy cries harder. Jean smiles and says that _yes, they would love to_.

“Do you ever wonder what it would be like to get married and start a family?” he asks one day.

Jeremy smiles, “Do you want to?”

  
Ten years free. They do just that.


End file.
